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Life & Arts

Media formats constantly evolving

Disc-ussion 

Austin Havican

Vertical helical scan isn't an attempt at an awkward sex position; it's the full name of the dying 30-year-old cassette format for watching movies, better known as VHS.

VHS, which is more casually known as "video home system," was invented in 1976 by Victor Company of Japan, or JVC. The format won widespread popularity over Sony's Betamax during the famous console war in the early 1980s and finally became the industry standard in 1990.

Although DVDs were introduced to the United States in 1997, American consumers didn't overcome their skepticism until 2003. After those six years of initial growth, the DVD has all but completely obscured the cassette format, almost completely reducing VHS sales to dollar stores and discount bins.

VCRs remain somewhat popular for their low price and television recording ability. DVD recorders haven't completely replaced them because of their infamously temperamental recoding processes and the fact that single-layer DVDs offer a much shorter recording time than four-hour VHS tapes. However, with TiVo, other digital video recorders, illegal downloading and the quick turnaround of DVD television box sets, VCRs are quickly losing ground in the home recording market.

DVDs took six years to catch on, and now, only three years later, have already met the introduction of two competing high-definition formats. 

The war between high definition and Blu-ray only seems to be getting more heated and complicated since their official introductions earlier this year. Both offer unique advantages, but for the most part maintain similar technology in increased storage capacity: 15 gigabytes for HD and 25 gigabytes for Blu-ray, exponentially larger than a standard DVD.

Most research firms predict Blu-ray dominance after about two years of consumer uncertainty, in part fueled by Sony's new PlayStation 3. However, industry giant Microsoft has signed up for the HD camp, so heavy marketing tactics and the highly-anticipated Xbox HD attachment could pull in more customers. 

Whichever format ends up dominating the market after the advertising and marketing push is over, we shouldn't expect either to last very long. 

This year's expected death of VHS may mark the death of format longevity; the increased turnaround for new technology and startling impatience for the consumer dollar only hurries the industry giants' efforts to get the customers what they want.

Pretty soon it will be time to stash your VHS tapes with your vinyl records and cassette tapes. Just be sure to leave enough room for the next few years of DVD and HD formats.
 

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